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Week 9: The Man in the Mist
Week 9: The Man in the Mist Year 735, First Moon, Days 8 & 9 When we left off... The group had a hard decision to make between helping the Wizards of Wine or the village of Vallaki. On the one hand, Ireena was probably safe with Demon Hand Joe… for a certain value of safe. On the other, the vineyard would not be able to supply wine to the people of Barovia without their magical seeds. The loss of the wine would affect morale for everyone, which could precipitate a real crisis, so the Loose Association of Individuals decided to recover the Magic Seed '''from Yester Hill before the last of the Vistani magic faded. A risky hunt after sundown provided Wolf (the other-other red meat) for supper, which solved the immediate needs of the Martikov family. The Yester Hill druids allegedly poisoned some of the supplies, and unless Selgaard could purify food and drink (hint: he didn’t), they weren’t sure what could be consumed and what needed to be dumped. Sir Quintus took his customary first watch, and then fell asleep. Selgaard, likewise, slept soundly. Nars, however, was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be able to sleep no matter what he tried, so he decided to stay up all night in an impromptu sweat lodge. Clyde and Ulfar joined him, spending hours performing rituals above the coal bed, sweating out their troubles, and meditating on their troubles. They all saw some very trippy things, which may or may not hold great personal significance to them, and did not benefit from a Long Rest. The next morning, with 3/5 of your party exhausted, Daran Edermath joined you on the expedition to Yester Hill. The path led you to the furthest reaches of Barovia, where a thick wall of mist prevented you from going any further. Within the mists you heard faint whispers, and saw the profile of a distant tower somewhere beyond. It did you a frighten. Per typical operating procedure, you decided the best plan was just to walk up to the epicenter of the trouble and attack without much preamble. At the top of the hill, you discovered a ring of rocks being consistently struck by lightning. An enormous '''Effigy of Strahd '''stood at the center of the circle. A little further down the hill, Ulfar spotted the '''Gulthias Tree – where the remaining druids were preparing some sort of ritual. True to plan, you ran up and attacked. Unfortunately, the druids were not alone. Supported by a small army of twig blights and berserker warriors who emerged from nearby graves, they put up a good fight before being overwhelmed. Nars, in particular, had a difficult time shrugging off damage like he used to. Even after defeating the local meth-heads, you still weren't sure where the missing Seed was. Nars tried to chop down the Gulthias Tree, but the vaguely magical axe he used kept biting at his hands; Quintus took over and had better luck, eventually felling the ancient plant. Meanwhile, Clyde, Ulfar, and Selgaard pulled down the wicker Strahd and broke it apart. Luckily, they spotted the Magic Seed at the heart of the statue, and Daran legged it back to the vineyard just before the Mist closed in. From the mist, a lone figure appeared. Nars got ready to punch Strahd in his stupid face again, but when the man in the mist spoke he sounded decidedly less like a muppet / Bela Lugosi than previous encounters with Strahd had led you to expect. Of course, he was also a raging douchebag - though not Altaris again, thank Christ. Those of you with a good memory for global politics recognized him from his Elrich Kessler for World Leader '''campaign. Elrich was somewhere between amused and annoyed by your shenanigans in Barovia, explaining that he had a "leaky balloon" and that you were all doing more harm than good on a cosmological level. Selgaard assumed that he must be a Daedra, while others among you surmised that -- whatever happened to the original Dark Powers - Elrich Kessler was slowly replacing them. With a wave of his hand, he banished you from the Mists of Ravenloft, and sent you spiraling toward the Prime. You arrived in an alpine valley, in the shadow of the mysterious tower that you saw through the wall of mist before. The tower, surrounding village, and all of the inhabitants were made of ephemeral fog - almost ghostly in their nature. Ulfar guessed that the town was not quite in the Prime and not quite in the Dread Realms, which didn't bode well for anybody. '''Around Town... It's autumn, and the moon is waxing gibbous.